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Greek Classic ‘The Iliad’ read in its entirety by 66 actors

A reading of all 18,225 lines of text of The Iliad by 66 actors, an epic undertaking of Cambridge classics professor Simon Goldhill, will be available to watch online.

Greek Classic ‘The Iliad’ read in its entirety by 66 actors
Black-figure wine-drinking bowl in the style of Exekias, c. 530 bc, from Pharsalos, 
Greece, showing the fight over Patroklos’ corpse [Credit: OUP]
The ambitious reading took place on August 14 for an audience of more than 50,000 people across the world and in front of live audiences at the British Museum and the Almeida, according to the open culture website.

Now the epic endeavor can be seen online at the Almeida’s website until September 21, 2016. All 68 sections of it!


According to Goldhill, the epic poem “puts in place most of the great themes of Western literature, from power to adultery.” The report cites scholar Deirdre McClosky describing The Iliad as “a blockbuster comic book film.” Achilles‘ motive force, writes McClosky, is kleos: fame and glory.

Scottish film and stage star Brian Cox is one of the readers, along with Simon Russell Beale, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Mariah Gale, and others, all British theater-trained actors who deliver stirring, often thrilling, readings of the Robert Fagles translation, the report concludes.

Author: Philip Chrysopoulos | Source: Greek Reporter [October 21, 2015]